Minnehaha Falls and Glen Restoration

Overview

The Minnehaha Creek Watershed District (MCWD), partnered with the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board, the Minneapolis Veterans Home, the State of Minnesota, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to implement a three-phase, multi-year project to construct a series of improvements at Minnehaha Falls, a site that garners more than 850,000 people each year. MCWD approached this project by focusing on three key areas: improving park infrastructure, restoring eroded streambanks, and managing stormwater at the nearby Minnesota Veterans Home.  

In 2005, a severe storm event resulted in extensive damage to the Minnehaha Falls and Glen area, including damage to the limestone retaining walls and steps built during the Works Progress Administration of the 1930s. The storm also eroded trails, washing sediment into the creek and degrading water quality where there are sensitive plant communities. When it rained, stormwater runoff from the Minneapolis Veterans Home campus above Minnehaha Falls poured into the gorge through stormwater pipes, washing away the stream banks and endangering the site’s historic elements, including the ruins of the 1857 Ard Godfrey Mill, Minnesota’s first known flour mill. Structural failures, erosion problems, stormwater management issues, and other problems threatened historic, cultural, and natural resources in the Minnehaha Falls and Glen area and at the Minnesota Veteran’s Home, necessitating action by the District and its agency partners.